The UK is failing to combat child poverty, one of the region's leading academics has warned.

Jonathan Bradshaw, associate director of the Social Policy Research Unit, based at York University, said child poverty rates in Britain today are still double what they were in 1979.

''Child poverty rates in Britain today are still double what they were in 1979. We missed the five-year targets and we are certain to miss the 10-year targets now.''

Jonathan Bradshaw

''Child poverty rates in Britain today are still double what they were in 1979. We missed the five-year targets and we are certain to miss the 10-year targets now.''

Jonathan Bradshaw

''Child poverty rates in Britain today are still double what they were in 1979. We missed the five-year targets and we are certain to miss the 10-year targets now.''

Jonathan Bradshaw

''Child poverty rates in Britain today are still double what they were in 1979. We missed the five-year targets and we are certain to miss the 10-year targets now.''

Jonathan Bradshaw

And he warned that in many respects, the Government's strategy to eradicate child poverty by 2020 has failed.

In 1999, then Prime Minister Tony Blair announced targets would be set to reduce child poverty by a quarter between 1998/99 and 2004/05, as a step towards halving it by 2010/11 and eradicating it by 2020.

Prof Bradshaw told the NEEC (formerly the North of England Education Conference) in York today: ''As far as the strategy has failed, it has failed in its efforts particularly because it started from such a terrible point. The policies pursued started too late.''

He added: ''Child poverty rates in Britain today are still double what they were in 1979. We missed the five-year targets and we are certain to miss the 10-year targets now.''

He did acknowledge that without the strategy there would be an extra 1.7 million poor children in Britain.

Prof Bradshaw said the UK had not spent enough on the problem, adding that at least an extra £5 billion was needed to reach the 2010 poverty target.

Much more than this was spent on bailing out the banks, he added.

While the UK is successful in some child poverty areas, such as improving housing conditions, the nation is far behind in other areas, Prof Bradshaw said, describing high levels of teenagers not in education, employment or training as ''awful''. He added: ''Given our wealth, our children should be doing much better than they are.''

Prof Bradshaw referred to an EU report published last year which showed the UK was 24th out of 29 countries for child wellbeing, behind countries like Estonia, Hungary, Greece and Slovakia.

A second report, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) towards the end of last year, put the UK 20th out of 30 countries for wellbeing.

Highlighting the link between poverty and school achievement, Prof Bradshaw referred to research due to be published in the coming weeks by Kathleen Kiernan of York University.

The research shows that less than a fifth (19%) of pupils at foundation level (up to five years old) who were in poverty and experienced bad parenting were performing at a good level of achievement.

In comparison, almost three quarters (73%) of those not in poverty with good parenting were performing at a good level.

Some 58% of those in poverty with good parenting reached a good level, while 47% of children not in poverty with bad parenting reached a good level.

Prof Bradshaw said: ''The conclusion from this, of course, is that parenting matters, but so does poverty, and one can effectively undermine the other.''

Around 2.3 million children are estimated to be living in poverty in the UK.